The prior art back and leg stretcher is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,186 issued May 13, 1986. Related patents include U.S. Pat. No. 1,641,188 issued Sept. 6, 1927
and U.S. Pat. No. 3,164,150, issued Jan. 5, 1965, PA1 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,984,101, issued Oct. 5, 1976, PA1 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,249, issued June 26, 1984, PA1 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,605, issued May 28, 1985, PA1 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,I52, issued May 19, 1987, and PA1 PCT Patent No. WO 81/00967.
The prior art back and leg stretcher includes a puller assembly which has a shoulder harness, a first ring connected to the harness, two ropes, each rope being fixed to the first ring at one end thereof, a foot strap, a second ring connected to the foot strap, each rope having a midsection running through the second ring, whereby the operator can pull the ropes thereby applying a pulling force on the operator.
One problem with the prior art back and leg stretcher is that the foot strap applies a relatively large force on the feet during operation thereof, which is objectionable to a person having a foot injury. Another problem is that a pulling force applied to a person having a certain type of back injury is undesirable.